Two songs that have in common their performance by an act that's a spin-off of sort from an earlier act...first up is "Scratch the Surface" by The Week That Was (a/k/a The Name That I Can't Remember - honestly, I've had to google that name I don't know how many times...), which is the name ex-Field Music Peter Brewis is trading under. Like his brother and bandmate David's School of Language project from last year, Brewis's songs often seem to pack a carefully trimmed prog-rock aesthetic into a cunningly constructed sharp, spare, new-wavey pop song. The arranging here is diamond hard, the piano resonating with the pinging drum echoing the guitar, and all the rhythms mesh gears winningly.
Slightly less famous, All City Affairs is a side project of Peter Andreadis, who also drums for Baby Teeth. "One Shot" has a melody that keeps reminding me of classic Squeeze (is it similar to a particular song), along with a funky late '70s rhythm guitar, quasi-backwards synth bass, and (similar to the track by The Week That Was) punch-press drums.
The Week That Was "Scratch the Surface" (The Week That Was, 2008 forthcoming)
All City Affairs "One Shot" (Identity Theft, 2008 forthcoming)
3 comments:
FYI, the All City Affairs file is 404 at the moment.
Despite a few glowing reviews here and there, I just don't feel like these Field Music guys are really getting the love they deserve! That second Field Music album was an absolute masterpiece and both of this year's "side projects" have been excellent. In a short period of time they've put together a pretty amazing catalog of razor sharp, intricate but always supremely melodic stuff.
Link fixed. The new file storage interface makes cutting and pasting more complicated than it should be, and I typed it instead...but used a hyphen when I should have used an underscore or the other way 'round...
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